


Common Speech

by Arianne



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-09 04:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arianne/pseuds/Arianne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boy had taken to Elrond -- truly, to all of them -- so quickly that Glorfindel could not help but smile. "Mae govannen, Estel."</p><p>"Use the common speech, please," Elrond requested gently, while Estel waved at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Common Speech

**Author's Note:**

> Accompanied by [mitsuhachi's](http://mitsuhachi.dreamwidth.org) lovely artwork, [ Adûnaic](http://mitsuhachi.dreamwidth.org/52580.html).
> 
> Total fluff, set about 85 years before the main story of LOTR. Written in March 2009, reposted to AO3 April 2013.

As usual, Elrond arrived to the study on time and settled to receive Glorfindel's counsel, but with Estel in his arms. The boy had taken to Elrond -- truly, to all of them -- so quickly that Glorfindel could not help but smile. " _Mae govannen_ , Estel."

"Use the common speech, please," Elrond requested gently, while Estel waved at him.

"You're eager to teach him." They had all seen Elrond already trying, going about his days carrying Estel throughout Imladris, identifying objects and often, it seemed, speaking to him whatever came to mind in his own fluent Annúnaid.

"I have very little time that he will listen." He glanced down at Estel, who had tangled his hand in the curl of Elrond's hair but looked up at him attentively regardless. "At this age, he will speak with no accent."

"Gondor would accept none less," Glorfindel said without qualm. It was clear they all thought of such things, even now when Estel himself was too young to understand.

"Yes," Elrond said, in a tone that concealed none of his concern. "So it is important he hears it when he is young," he went on. "I myself speak with so little an accent as to be able to teach him." Glorfindel remembered the tale of how Elrond had made it a point to learn, millennia ago, when Elros had taught himself the tongues of Men in what everyone had called a fleeting whim.

"He is a smart child. I've seen he already understands much of our own language." Glorfindel's own words were more heavily accented; he was unsure how useful Elrond would have him be in this aspect of Estel's education. "Will you send him to Gondor as a child, to gain experience?"

Elrond scowled and pulled Estel close, but Estel stayed quiet even when he moved to try to free himself. Another time, Glorfindel decided, he must compliment Elrond on the boy's behavior. "Send him as what?" Elrond asked him. "Son of Arathorn? My envoy? Royal hostage? I could not take the risk."

"Not with such a Man," Glorfindel agreed. He gestured at Estel, and smiled as the child watched him and attempted to pronounce his name, which was admittedly more difficult than his usual exclamations to his ada.

"Shh," Elrond told Estel lightly, holding him more firmly in his lap. "He will make no such journey under my care."

"That will last only twenty years for him, Elrond, if he wishes."

"I am aware," Elrond said, his expression again typically serious. "This is why I teach him now."

"And he will learn," Glorfindel said with affection. "And after he masters the Common Speech, what then?"

"Then," Elrond said, changing instantly to clear, unaccented Adûnaic, the likes of which Glorfindel hadn't heard in tens of centuries, spoken with a pride he hadn't heard even then, "I will teach him to speak as a Númenorean."


End file.
